Store Accused of Running Own Lottery : Arrests: The owner and three others at a Garden Grove supermarket are suspected of conducting what is known among the Vietnamese as <i> danh so, </i> or playing numbers.

Police say they have uncovered a private lottery, operated from a grocery store, which netted up to $40,000 a day and was based on the California lottery--but with a twist.

According to investigators, workers at the An Dong Supermarket, where the owner and three others were arrested Wednesday, sold handwritten tickets for twice-weekly games. But customers could buy as many numbers as they chose, spending any amount per number.

“Whereas with the state lottery, you need three numbers to get your money back, with this game, if you have just one number, you can still win,” said Police Sgt. Bump Willis of the Police Department’s special investigations unit. “It’s quick, convenient and easy.”

Based on a three-week investigation, police said they believe that the business had been running its own version of the lottery for up to four years, taking in as much as $40,000 every Wednesday and Saturday.

At 8 p.m. Wednesday, officers served a search warrant at the market, at 10552 Westminster Ave., and found the owner and two employees selling the handwritten markers, Willis said.

A woman whom police described as the owner, Huong Ngo, 38, of Garden Grove, was booked on suspicion of running and operating an illegal lottery and allowing a business to be used for illegal gambling. Employees Fong Saechua, 33, of Garden Grove and Kim Nguyen, 42, of Anaheim were booked on suspicion of aiding and operating an illegal lottery.

Also arrested for allegedly playing an illegal lottery was a customer, Vann Vong, 42, of Orange. The warrant was served just as Vong was buying one of the handwritten tickets, Willis said.

“Some (customers) tried to destroy the evidence by tearing up the markers,” Willis added.

Police also confiscated handwritten lottery tickets, or “markers,” lottery records and $23,000.

Police said customers could place as much money as they chose on any number--even a single number. If that number came up on Saturday or Wednesday, the player won.

Money won was based upon odds, set arbitrarily by the game’s operators, police said. When the warrant was served Wednesday night, the odds were 44 to 1, according to Willis.

Police said they did not know how the odds were determined, nor how many customers played. “You can bet it was a lucrative, money-making business,” Willis noted.

Thursday night, employees at An Dong said they were unaware that lottery tickets were allegedly being sold there or that officers had arrested anyone. While some customers expressed surprise, others said they knew the store engaged in danh so, or “played numbers.”

“It’s a well-known Vietnamese game,” said one customer, who did not give his name. “You buy a number and if that number comes up, you win.”

Another man, who said he has shopped at the market for four years, asserted that he has “never heard of the people here playing numbers.”

California Lottery officials said the supermarket was not licensed to sell state lottery tickets.

Investigators said they suspect that some other businesses in the county also are operating illegal lotteries.

The Internal Revenue Service and the state Franchise Tax Board also are investigating the supermarket’s business operations, police said.